Eleanore of Avignon by Elizabeth DeLozier, a Historical Fiction Book That Breathes Life Back Into Real People & a Book You Won’t Want to Miss on Your Reading Shelf (for now or the future ;)
By Jeneane Vanderhoof
Even though I’m all “germed out” after two personal bouts with COVID (and other germs ;), when I heard about Eleanore of Avignon, a new release by Elizabeth DeLozier, even though the main focus of the book is when the black plague (or “Black Death”) rolls into Avignon, that the main character, Eleanore (Elea) Blanchet, is female- one who has to fight the establishment and what society thinks at the time- to practice a craft she is very skilled in and took the time to learn (from her own mother), I wanted to read it (as I still love reading about the Black Plague too).
At the time Elea practices her skills as a healer and later, a Doctor in her own right (I believe), Avignon had a female ruler, Queen Joanna. But even a female ruler, it seems, is treated a little differently than a male ruler would be, I believe, as readers find the Queen standing trial for the murder of her husband when she returns home to Avignon- something, I don’t think, any male ruler would have to contend with (especially since the husband was murdered years before).
Elea Blanchet is quite a fictional character- one who has a sister, a twin but despite how alike the two are- there are so many differences. Because while Elea worries about sickness and death, her twin, Margot, worries about the man she will marry, the house she will set up for her future and the children she will have. Though the two have their disagreements, that they both feel they have different paths in life- the love they have for one another, for their father and each other- could never be more genuine and important. In fact, by the end of the story, one will sacrifice the life they would lead for the other. Oddly too, the way the twins’ lives end up, one would have thought Elea’s path would have been so much harder….
When the Black Death makes landfall in Avignon, Eleanore finds her skills are very much in need, medically. Not only is Queen Joanna pregnant and in need of a midwife (after the court deems her not guilty of the murder of her husband), but because all those with medical knowledge have fled or are dead, Eleanore finds herself at the bedside of a Queen, bringing the next royal blood- and possibly the next ruler of her country- into the world. Although with that daunting task, Eleanore and her new teacher, Guigo de Chauliac, the personal physician to the Pope himself, Eleanore must fight the Black Plague too, in both its horrendous forms.
Reading about those in the past, I really loved Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series, and the medical wisdom that came with having a female character who had knowledge from the future, go back into the past and use it. While Elea and Guigo de Chauliac were not time travelers, they did try out things in the book that were not conducive with popular theory at the time. One thing they asked Pope Clement to do- which he did agree with- is allow them to test theories and study corpses of victims who had died from both forms of the plague. At the time, the church had declared this could not be done, Clement reversed this, so that Guigo and Elea could get a better understanding of the plague. But when not popular with prevailing thoughts and beliefs, everyone who knows something of the world, should know what danger could lie for those who do this. And Elea and Guigo do find themselves in some hot water, at the end of the story, when calamity befalls Avignon and the citizens go crazy but then both, in a way, expected this to happen at some point, I believe (because it always does).
And as the story closes, Elea finds herself in a dire predicament because of what the two medical soldiers (is how I see Elea and Guigo in the book) have done to try and save those they can. As anyone who knows anything about history and the Black Plague- there were never any cures (in the past) for a disease that wiped out a large part of the planet and sadly, the knowledge at the time was very basic indeed- although Elea and Guigo do have some very small successes- which was what I liked about DeLozier’s story- despite the sad but hopeful ending of the book.
When it comes to purchasing books, while I wish I could afford them all, I have a budget and have to make choices so there are a few authors I buy in hardback and many others I wait for the book to come out in paperback (as it is more affordable). After reading Eleanore of Avignon, my first experience with this author as a reader, Elizabeth DeLozier will be an author on my “watch list”, an author who I wouldn’t be able to turn away from buying in hardback- as she has written a historical fiction story that takes real life characters and brings them back to life (as she shares things about them in her acknowledgements), something I really adore about stories and books today. When an author does this, I feel they’re breathing life back into an individual long gone and despite the fact if something happened or not, or if it’s the exact way an event occurred, well- you never know, right? In a way too, it’s a homage to a person who once had a history and an author has brought light to it. Plus, the truth is so hard to define anymore, a good story is so much better anyway, at least I think so.
A book I couldn’t put down til the end, Eleanore of Avignon is a story reader’s won’t want to miss and Elizabeth DeLozier, an author I will now, forever follow and wait for more amazing entertainment from.
Happy Reading!